A Fantastic result was achieved yesterday (11/11/15) by the Senior XC team at the RCS Guildford Haskell Relays finished in 3rd position behind St.Albans and Judd and beating a whole host of other schools.
The day began negatively as dropouts meant that the B Team would not have the prerequisite 4 runners, massive kudos to Oscar Halfacre and Fabien Daburn therefore for deciding to run their legs anyhow to record and time. In the end they were teamed with 2 spare runners from Judd and both ran very well.
The course was 1.8 miles long and a mixture of field and forest, good for viewing and with the added danger of getting lost in the wood (something we seem good at doing of late) as it was no one got lost and the race was extremely exciting to watch!
With recent arguments over what legs to run fresh in the mind, Miss Tomes had decided the order pre-race, but all was thrown up in the air when Ryan Galvin reported that he had pulled up lame at his training session the previous evening and was worried he wouldn't be able to finish. After a warm-up run Ryan decided to risk it and was given the 3rd leg. Robert Spalding, the captain noticeable for his absence this season with injury was also a concern but would run the anchor leg, leaving Alex Galvin to take on the challenge of the first leg and Ricky 2nd.
As you can see from the start above, Alex ran a great leg in 11.32 finishing in 8th place. This was a top effort and gave the 'secreat weapon' (named by R.Spalding) Ricky an opportunity to turn his recent form into positions which he duly did, overtaking 3 runners in front of him whilst recording an amzing time on 10.23
Here he is overtaking another runner to move into 4th place
This leg had raised the expectation and thus pressure on the remaining runners and so Ryan - with his injury concerns - set off determined to catch the 3rd place runner.
Showing a whole lot of guts and determination he caught his target, shadowed him, and then finally overtook him to hand over in 3rd place - a top run of 11.28 minutes
This left Robert Spalding around 10 metres in front of the 4th place runner from Judd and as he disappeared into the forest hopes were high he could hang on - even if his recent illness meant he was not in 100% condition
When he emerged from the forest he had extended the lead handsomely and although suffering towards the end was easily able to finish in 3rd place after a great leg of 11.32 minutes.
St.Albans and Judd took 1st and 2nd place - which was expected, but to finish in the medals was a fantastic performance and raised several eyebrows amongst the esteemed schools competing. Remember 3 out of the 4 runners are still in Year 11!
More fun was had seeing the expressions of those who had run when Ricky was announced as having ran the fastest leg and more medals came his way!
Fabien and Oscar both ran their legs well and this will stand them both in good stead for future events
So all in all a hugely successful afternoon. Following on from the performance at Lancing, the Senior Team can look forward to the Senior Knole, the National Championships and the Harrow South-East Championships with confidence
WELL DONE TO ALL WHO RAN
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